The Knocker Upper Man

Through cobbled streets so cold and damp
The knocker-upper man goes creepin
Tap-tapping at the window pane
To wake the town from sleepin

CHO:
(He said) hey thee up and stir theesel
The factory hooter’s blowin
So get up from your nice warm bed…
To work you must be goin

Day in day out the year about
Though snow and rain are fallin
You hear his clogs along the street…
You hear his voice a-callin

Oh the early-risin workin folk
The knocker-upper’s call they heeded
But time goes by, old customs die…
Now he’s no longer needed

Through streets of quiet suburbia
The knocker-upper’s ghost goes creepin
Now listenin to the ringin sound…
That wakes the town from sleepin

(Mike Canavan, from Some Songs, 1976)